Spy City Review: The Wall (Season 1 Episode 6)
The conclusion to the adventures of Fielding Scott is rather underwhelming on Spy City Season 1 Episode 6, “The Wall.” Scott murders Hoff and gets revenge for Severine’s death. He also uncovers a grand conspiracy. But he, especially he, cannot stop the Berlin Wall from going up.
The date August 13, 1961 was planted in earlier episodes as something foreboding; something would surely happen on that date, and it would be nothing good. But unless one felt like pausing the show to go google it, it felt like whatever could happen would surely be stopped, right?
Maybe Spy City was aiming for an older demographic, one that would recognize the date and its significance. Younger viewers, though, would be left in the dark.
But then again, that’s what Spy City does best: shroud things that could have been obvious in the dark again and again. The only thing known before this finale is that the Berlin Wall would be constructed, and that’s only if know your history.
That Scott spends the day/night before the Berlin Wall going up moping in bed over Severine after he just killed the man who killed her, as well as uncovering a massive conspiracy, doesn’t make for very compelling drama.
Eliza, Reinhart, and Faber all end up trapped behind the Wall, with Faber urgently capturing the moment with her camera, and Eliza deciding to stay with Reinhart. She has a chance to leave, but she doesn’t take it. Faber doesn’t have the chance, so she does what she does best: endure.
Faber is easily the most interesting character on Spy City. She’s a woman photographer in 60s East Germany who helps a spy carry out his plans, with seemingly no ties and nowhere else to go. A whole show could be dedicated to her adventures.
Eliza not leaving when she had the chance, though, in the name of love, quickly plummets her to the bottom of the interesting characters list. Remember when just a few weeks ago she was blackmailing Scott to get a better life? Guess that was for nothing.
Severine just ends up as an excuse for Scott to brutally murder Hoff in a scene that is barbaric, even if Hoff is one of the bad guys. Severine deserved better than to be fridged.
So did Greer, for that matter, who is revealed to be even less of an important casualty than previously thought.
The grand conspiracy revealed at the end isn’t even really that grand: Scott’s ultimate boss is the mole, the traitor, but whether or not anything will actually happen to him is up in the air.
It feels like an anti-ending, with Scott snarling at the KGB general one last time, and the KGB general snarling back, and Spy City just…ending there, with a freeze-frame of all things, surely meant to be imitating one of Faber’s photographs, but she’s nowhere nearby.
Spy City lived and died by its secrets, and in the end, its secrets weren’t that interesting, and its characters weren’t either.
What did you think of this episode of Spy City? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Spy City airs Thursdays on AMC+.
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Ruth Johnson
Ruth Johnson is a screenwriter, scholar, and cultural critic who enjoys discussing TV, film, and fandom.